Last Stand
by Professor Specter
Summary: Yugi must face his toughest challenge yet... but one where the heart of the cards can't help him, and Yami must stand on the sidelines. Who will be there to support the falling pharaoh? Oneshot rated just to be safe.


**Last Stand**

Through thick and thin, Yugi has suffered through every crucial duel in his and Yami's destiny. Set after Waking the Dragons, a new evil has arisen to challenge the former pharaoh and his hikari. But this time, the heart of the cards will not be able to help them as Yugi falls to a mysterious illness, one that can occur only with a wielder of a millennium item. Warning: A character is already dead, character death.

…………………………………………………………

Specter: Ryou is also dead in this story.  
Ryou:  
Bakura: You… _dared… _to kill… _my…_ hikari?  
Specter: Um well, ahaha…ep well…  
Ryou: Calm down Bakura. Please.  
Bakura:  
Yami: Turning into a softie much?  
Ryou, Bakura: **shuth  
**Specter: Hey Yugi, do the disclaimer please?  
Yugi: Sure. Professor Specter does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! in anyway, and if you sue for it, you'll end up in the shadow realm. And Bakura is pissed.  
Specter: Arigato, Yugi. Now get sick and Ryou be dead.  
Everyone else: O.O  
Specter: Don't think nasty you hentai's! **Anime forehead pulse**

………………………………………………………..

…………………_I'll have revenge upon Fortunato……………_

…………………………………………………………

"Doctor, is Yugi going to be okay?" asked Anzu, tears in her eyes.

"Were trying miss. We haven't had a case like this ever. But if your friend survives, which in itself would be a miracle, he will be paralyzed from nearly neck down," replied the doctor somberly.

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Honda.

"I dun't think he's joking, Honda." said Jounouchi sadly.

"Poor Yugi," cried Anzu, tears spilling from her eyes. Jounouchi put an arm around her and let her cry into his shoulder.

"I'm very sorry." the doctor said. He put a hand on Honda and Jounouchi's other shoulder before walking away.

"Have a little faith Anzu." said Honda.

"An any faith you got left to spare, we gotta channel it to da pharaoh," said Jounouchi. The threesome looked up into the window of the door of the room in front of them. They could see the spirit figure that was Yami standing next to Yugi's bedside. Silent tears were streaming down his face.

"You're right…" said Anzu.

* * *

Yugi Mouto lay motionless on the stiff white hospital bed, medical machines surrounding him beeping and humming quietly. A gas mask covered the lower half of his face; his bare chest had several IV needles placed carefully between his ribs, as well as one in his arm. A red swatch of cotton was taped to the base of his neck, stemming the flow of blood form a sample taken there. Yami hadn't bothered to ask what for, as long as it was helping Yugi live.

On top of his trance-like sadness, Yami was very frustrated. As a spirit, he couldn't touch Yugi physically. He couldn't grasp his little hikari's hand or kiss his forehead before he left. And in this state, Yami couldn't reach out to Yugi mentally, unless Yugi's mind woke up and gained enough strength for a mental link. He was shunned. He was just the pharaoh, spirit entombed inside the Millennium Puzzle.

Yet sadness bore the most weight in his heart, bringing the endless tears that only grew stronger as he thought about the pain he was causing Yugi. The door opened behind him, but he didn't turn. If it was a doctor, they could work around or through him.

"Pharaoh…" came Anzu's voice. "Have faith. Yugi's gonna make it."

"I'm sorry… all of you…" said Yami. "Yugi has to leave you, his best friends... because of me."

"What're you sayin?" gasped Jounouchi.

"Yugi doesn't stand a chance against this illness, and I'm sorry… because I'm the one who brought it on him." said Yami.

"You can't say stuff like that man!" said Honda. "Yugi's gonna pull through this because he's got his friends by his side, believing in him." Yami walked out toward the window.

"Then I guess I had better leave... for what I've done, there is no way I can still be called Yugi's friend." And with that, he vanished through the window.

* * *

Yami did not return to Yugi's house, instead he meandered with a sudden maudlin composure to the park so he could rest and think. He sat up in a large willow tree, patches of sunlight shining through on his transparent body. Yami sighed deeply.

"I wish to have faith in you Yugi." he whispered. "But only a miracle can save you now… and I am powerless to act. When I was pharaoh, I remember this same illness fell upon one of my Priests, Mahado, the bearer of the Millennium Ring. You've made the ultimate sacrifice." Tears once again found their place on the brim of Yami's eyes. "If only I could talk to someone… But only you would understand me Yugi. Where will I be when you leave?" The tears fell in a straight line down his cheeks as he drifted off.

**NIGHTMARE**

"Yugi! You're alive!"

"Yes, Yami," said Yugi calmly, holding out his arms to his yami. "My friends believed in me, and so I pulled through."

"Oh Yugi." Yami embraced his hikari, tears of joy staining his face. "It _is _a miracle. What did _you _do?" Yugi broke away staring at Yami with a look he hoped would never grace his features ever again. It matched the face he wore when he used the Seal of Orecalcose in a duel against him. Treachery. Revenge.

"I gave all my illness… to you."

"Yugi!" the pharaoh gasped in shock. It turned into pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his sides as a flaming dark aura traveled over him. "Yugi! What's happening?" As he spoke, the darkness slitted his clothes and skin, patterning his body in strict line designs as it covered every inch of him. Yami collapsed on one side, twitching convulsively, too weak to hold himself up, his darker amethyst eyes, very wide.

"Yami." Yugi knelt down next to him. "My friends believed and you did not. I've made enough forgoes to your destiny, so now…" He held Yami's chin and turned his face to him. "I hand you _fate._"

"Yugi," breathed Yami as Yugi let him go. "I'm so sorry…" As quick as the darkness came, it vanished, leaving Yami to fall away…

**REALITY**

Yami opened his eyes and looked around. It was pitch black all around him, minus a light up ahead, like at the end of a tunnel. Yami approached it, staring curiously at it, until suddenly, it exploded all around him and he saw no more.

"You've come back to us, have you? That was quite a fall you would've suffered if you could've felt it." Yami looked up from the… couch? he was suddenly sitting on.

"Where am I?" he voiced. He rotated slowly to absorb all of his surroundings. A living room.His eye caught a picture on the TV set of a young man, with large chocolate brown eyes and nearly waist length white hair. "Ryou…"

"Didn't recognize your friends place when you see it?"

"I'm sorry, um…?"

"Bakura. Yami Bakura, Ryou's dead, I hope you didn't forget." Bakura came around the corner, brushing his bangs with unusual delicateness. "If so, I'd be glad to refresh your memory." The mystic Millennium Ring around his neck gave a faint glow.

"No one will forget Ryou, especially not Yugi or I. He was there during the best and worst of times. Hell he even put up with you." said Yami. The expected fuming of foul language and argument did not come. Yami looked surprised before continuing. "You… didn't tell us exactly what happened to him… He… didn't… did he die from the curse?"

"No." Bakura advanced further into the room and sat on an arm of the couch. "He survived through that on the will of controlling me and to see his family again without fear of me attacking. What Yugi suffers, Ryou never did; he's never allow it."

"I'm glad for him," said Yami, truly meaning his words. He leaned back on the couch; surprised he could feel the cool leather beneath his back. He looked perplexedly at Bakura. Bakura grinned.

"You're in with another Item, making you spiritually formed. As you can see, you're still transparent." Yami sighed understandingly as Bakura slid off the arm next to him. "Talk to me." he said. Yami looked up. "You'll fell better if you did," Bakura grabbed him around the waist as he spoke and pulled him onto his lap as he stretched his legs out the length of the couch. He began stroking Yami's hair. "Please talk to me." Yami gave in to the serenity of his state, and took a deep breath before pouring his shattered soul out to the other yami.

"He would and did sacrifice anything so I could go on. He believed in me so much he was willing to risk everything. At Duelist Kingdom, in our final shadow game against Pegasus, he sacrificed himself to play one more card in our mind shuffle strategy. He couldn't take the mental strain that Pegasus put on him, be he was going to risk it to give me a fighting chance." Yami paused, memories of that duel swimming before his minds eye. Bakura gave him a gentle squeeze, as if to ask him to continue speaking.

"That was the third shadow game you and Yugi faced?" asked Bakura. "Pegasus was first, then mine, then Pegasus again."

"And it would not be his last. There were several during the Battle City tournament; Pandora, The Silent One, and even against his best friend Jounouchi. But during the finals were where they were the worst, including yours."

"Yes, well, I targeted your Item, not Yugi." said Bakura in defense, but it was quiet with no anger.

"That was Marik's excuse too, he wanted me, my power...and he was going to do anything to get at me. His shadow game was merciless."

"He pulled the same trick on me. When I dueled him before the semi-finals, he made a shadow game so when we lost life points we lost parts of our physical selves to the shadows."

"I would've switched at any moment to take the blow of losing life points, but Yugi held firm and made me continue on. It pained me the most when I had to give part of him to the shadows to activate certain magic and trap cards." Yami had silenced and started to tremble.

"Take your time," whispered Bakura.He felt a warm tear on his thumb as he stroked Yami's face. "We have lasted five millennia. I find patience easy to come by." Yami's shivers ceased.

"Not long after Yugi made yet another sacrifice, greater than any before, and not for a shadow game. My dark recklessness compelled me into using the Seal of Orecalcose." Bakura's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing."When I lost that duel to Raphael, I had every intention of facing my consequences by letting my soul be sealed away. But Yugi offered himself up instead. _'It only needs one of us. So I'm letting the seal take me instead.'_ That's what he said before I lost him. I knew then the terrible wrong I had committed.

"An innocent boy was fated to be given a dark artifact that would change his life from inside and out. I had taken the life of another to ensure my own, and Yugi gave anything to make sure of it.

"I was never so alone without Yugi around. When Kaiba, Jounouchi and I finally defeated Darts and Yugi's soul came back, I didn't want to interfere with him in any way. I couldn't bring myself to come in control of him, even when he insisted I should come out for a while. He was back, alive safe and sound. The only things I feared besides losing him again were you coming back or the curse sinking in."

"And then Ryou died." Bakura said, his throat tight.

"And Yugi grew victim to the curse."

"So I was no longer any concern."

"Exactly. Something told me you'd be concerning yourself over his death. So Yugi was all that mattered. I was shocked that the curse fell upon him, but all these shadow games, all these sacrifices, and all my dark moments were probably what triggered it. Now he's paying for the ultimate sacrifice of him allowing me to live through him."

"Yes. Now that I think about it, I wonder why Ryou didn't suffer the curse from me," said Bakura absently. "I am the shadow realm's king, automatically a dark yami. I think somehow, Ryou became immune. Ryou had the Ring given to him from his father when he was much younger, and I didn't put in an appearance for seven years." All was quiet as Bakura brooded on his own words and tears that had yet to fall filled Yami's eyes. He could take it no longer.

"He's not going to survive!" Yami attempted to break away, but Bakura was stronger and held him down. "If it hadn't been for me, Yugi wouldn't be where he is now! If the ancient pharaoh had stayed dead then none of Yugi's pain would've happened! He'd be happy and healthy… and not about to be… prematurely buried."

"But if Yugi had not found you and pieced the Puzzle back together, Yugi would never have met Ryou, even if it was because the Ring honed in on your item." Bakura said calmly. "Both he and Ryou would've had one less friend." Yami leaned back on him and closed his eyes as he calmed down.

"I just don't want to see him go. Not after everything he's done."

"…It's not too late, how about we go see Yugi?" Yami was hesitant, looking up at Bakura since the first time he starter reminiscing on old memories. There was something different about him, about his eyes. The much sharper dark brown orbs had become more somber and softer. On a whole, his entire façade had paled a couple shades and he had thinned even more then he already was. Yami was sure the rigid ness he felt as he leaned against the dark yami was his rib cage. He held Bakura's hand to his cheek and nodded. He got up and stretched then waited outside as Bakura locked up the apartment.

"You may not know it, but _I _know Yugi feels your presence when you're by his side. He'll gain strength from it."

* * *

A ten-minute walk in silence and the two Yami's were coming down the ward with Yugi's room. Yami stopped out side and looked in, seeing Anzu and the others sitting by Yugi.

"Maybe I'd better wait—"

"No." said Yami firmly. "Come in." Bakura sighed as if to say you're-gonna-regret-this, but followed Yami.

"Hey Pharaoh, Yugi is—" Anzu stopped as Bakura slammed the door behind him. "Oh, Bakura. Hi." Bakura just glared at her and nodded to Jounouchi and Honda before retreating into the corner of the room.

"Has anything changed?" asked Yami, drawing the three's attention away from the tomb raider. Jounouchi gave him his chair next to Yugi and grabbed a bar stool and sat next to Honda.

"Well when you left, it was kinda as if Yugi didn't want you to leave, he went a little pale." said Honda, his voice asking do-you-know-what-that's-about? Yami looked at Bakura. '_Yugi feels your presence when you're by his side.' _Yami slouched over the bedrail and rested his head on his arms, one hand holding Yugi's.

"I'm here for you," he whispered, lightly squeezing his hikari's hand. "Please don't give up. _I'll never stop believing! _thought Yami through his and Yugi's mental link. He could feel it growing a little stronger as he poured his belief into reaching out to Yugi.

_Y—Yami?_

_Yugi! You can speak through our link?_

_Yami, it's so dark, I feel so cold…_Yugi stopped, and grasped Yami's hand with unusual strength for someone so weak. _Yami, am I going to be okay?_

_Yes. Yes Yugi, you'll be okay._Yami smiled, but it was tainted with sorrow. He could touch Yugi and give him strength to carry on, but where he would carried on when this was all over was what saddened Yami.

"Brr…! Is it really cold in here all of a sudden?" said Anzu, rubbing her arms.

"You felt it too, Anzu?" said Jounouchi. Bakura caught Yami's eyes. But Bakura shook his head in silent disagreement that the chill was his fault. Instead, he nodded at Yugi. Yami looked horrorstruck at his hikari as the flaming shadow aura swirled around Yugi's body, just like in Yami's dream.

_Yami! _called Yugi mentally once more. But this time it was much more painful. _Something is happening! The darkness, it's growing stronger, Yami…_

_Yugi! _called back Yami. _Yugi! Answer me!_ The dark aura seen only by he and Bakura began splitting his body with sharp thin cuts, allowing an equally thin stream of blood to pour out. The blood caught the other three's eyes.

"Oh my God! Yugi!" cried Anzu.

"Get a doctor, now!" ordered Bakura. Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu all left. Bakura emerged from his shadows and came next to Yami. Yami had risen to a standing and held Yugi's bloodied hand to his face. "If there is way for him to return as you did, I will find it." Yami looked up at him sharply.

"Get out of the way!" Doctors rushed in and took Yugi out, putting him on a speed track to the emergency room. Yami stood, his back in the doorframe and face in his hands as he broke down in tears.

"I'll guide him along the River Styx, and we'll see whose favor wins out more," said Bakura. When Yami looked back at him, all that was left was the curling smoke like scattering shadows.

* * *

The four had found each other and now sat impatiently in the waiting room. Whether Bakura had told them to shove off or it was Yami's own demeanor, no doctors asked them to leave when visiting hours were long past. Honda and Jounouchi were pacing back and forth, looking up occasionally at the clock and door. Anzu sat in a chair next to Yami, who had stiffened up like a board and become silent as the grave. His whole frame was unmoving, eyes on nothing but the doorknob.

Finally, after nearly four hours at 1:00 A.M., Yami's motionless body was rewarded with a light ruffling of his hair from the draft above them. Wait... in physical sense, hecouldn't feel the wind of any strength... only shadow wind.Yami looked himself over.

"Pharaoh, what's wrong?" asked Anzu. Then she too noticed. "Oh no," she whispered. Yami had become a solid human being, just like Bakura did when Ryou died. Jounouchi and Honda stopped pacing and looked up. Their eyes widened in shock.

"Does this mean…?" gasped Honda. Yami nodded.

"He's gone."

As if to make it official, the door opened right at that moment and a doctor walked in. His eyes looked tired and somber with sympathy.

"I'm sorry, sir." he started.

"We already know, just leave us alone," said Jounouchi. The doctor looked surprised. But he nodded with understanding and left. Not five minutes later the door opened yet again, this time for Bakura. When Yami saw him, anger clouded his vision and he rushed upon the former tomb raider, trucking him to the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU DO YO YUGI!" he demanded. "WHAT HAPPENED TO _HELPING _HIM?" Yami took a moment to take a breath and noticed the sadness and guilt fogging Bakura's eyes. He willed himself to listen, if the dark yami had any explanation.

"I guided him like I said I would. The Gates of Judgment didn't give him good choices, and so he made yet another sacrifice for you. If he wanted to conquer the curse, you would take his place on his deathbed. Ryou was there to watch, and Yugi decided it would be better for you to live, and him to pass on." Yami looked mortified. He sank to his knees as Bakura sat up, and he cried his heart out.

"No… it's not fair! Why?" he said through his never ending tears. "Why do you constantly do these things for me?" He felt himself lean on a thinned chest, but didn't look up, knowing it was Bakura. He felt strong sturdy arms wrap around him as he let his ineptitude to help Yugi sink in, and it only made him more depressed.

"Youthree, leave." Bakura said to the other three. "He needs someone who understands the loss of his hikari... and to watch him, just in case." Jounouchi and Honda nodded, but Anzu still looked hesitant to leave Yami alone in a hospital with Bakura. "Call Ryou's place in the morning, he'll be there. Go." The boys pulled the door open and left. "Now!" snarled Bakura. Anzu 'eeped' and ran after the other two, closing the door behind her.

"It was a sacrifice he was willing to make, Yami. For you, I might add." Yami only cried harder. "You'll soon see that this was not all for not. Ryou left me a gift, and Yugi's will appear soon. But for now," Bakura cast a harmless shadow realm atmosphere around them. "This will simply be remembered as Yugi's… last… stand."

* * *

!Owari!

Specter: Obvious renegade player, ne?  
Yugi, Ryou, Yami:  
Bakura: You… killed… _my… _hikari!  
Specter: Oh, sh-t…  
Yami, Yugi: R&R and goodnight.


End file.
